A $169 three-way tablet war is brewing with the entry of the new Acer Iconia A1. The 7.9-inch tablet is going against the Nexus 7 and HP Slate.

The device will be available in the market by June at $169 for the 8GB model and $199.99 for the 16GB model.

Specs

Acer Iconia

Nexus 7

HP Slate

Screen

7.9 inches LED IPS (1,024x768 pixels)

7 inches

(1,270x800)

7 inches with black bezel (1,024x600 pixels)

Processor

NVIDIA Tegra 2 T20 dual-core 1 GHz Cortex A9

NVIDIA Tegra 3 quad-core

1.6GHz ARM A9 dual-core

Camera

1080p, 5-megapixel rear camera

Front-facing camera for Skype

1.2MP front-facing camera

3-megapixel rear camera

VGA front-facing camera

OS

Jelly Bean 4.2

Jelly Bean 4.2

Jelly Bean 4.1.1

RAM and Storage

1 GB RAM, 16/32GB internal storage

1 GB RAM, 8GB internal storage with microSD card slot

Extras

microUSB 2.0

Beats Audio

WiFi b/g/n

WiFi 892.11 b/g/n

802.11 b/g/n WiFi

Bluetooth 4.0

Bluetooth

Bluetooth 2.1 EDR

The Acer Iconia has a Touch WakeApp gesture that will kick into present apps when the device is swiped in a certain way.

Its screen has the same size and resolution as that of the iPad Mini which would be a big help for PDFs and e-reading because of its similar dimensions to a sheet of paper.

CNET said that based on the device's aggressive features and full screen, it could gain a second glance in the crowded field of $169 tablets, explaining why it called this table the netbook of the moment.

In its review of the HP Slate, CNET pointed out that at a retail price of $169, the device is expected to be stripped of new features, but the Web site finds it a bit too far since it only has 8GB of storage, lacks gyroscope and GPS hardware, has poor camera quality and low-resolution screen.

Expert Review, meanwhile, calls the Nexus 7 a fantastic little tablet at an unbelievable price, but added that it is not perfect for every need. The Web site said the Nexus 7 appears to be the answer to all of Android tablet's woes that failed to eat into Apple's market share because of poor quality, lack of key Google applications and the use of outdated versions of OS.

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